Garments such as briefs or panties have been made by knitting a tubular blank on a circular knitting machine and cutting out areas on opposite sides that form leg openings when the front and rear ends of the blank are sewn together. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,115, guide lines for the cutting operation may be formed in the blank by a distinctive stitch such as a tuck stitch in a jersey knit or by knitting the entire area to be cut out with a distinctive stitch so that the line of demarcation between it and the rest of the blank serves as a cutting guide. It is estimated that this process wastes about 20% of the yarn depending on the particular design of the brief or panty. In the highly competitive garment industry this amount of waste is very significant.
In my patent application bearing the same title as this application and filed concurrently herewith, a blank is described that eliminates much of the waste yarn. A tubular body is knit with 360.degree. courses down to a given course in which a majority of the needles are pressed off and the remaining needles continue to knit so as to form a rear panel for the brief. Notches are cut in either side of the body from the course that is pressed off, and the rear panel is also cut to shape. A brief or panty is made by sewing one end of a crotch piece to the rear panel and sewing the other end to the central portion of the tubular body so as to form leg openings on either side that can be trimmed in any desired manner.
In an application by Michael J. Bolin, entitled: "Garment Blank With Special Disposable Section" that is filed concurrently herewith, a tubular blank is provided with a first section that is to be used in the garment and second sections in the form of notches on opposite sides of the blank that are to be cut out so as to form leg openings when the front and rear ends of the blank between the notches are sewn together. The second sections are knit with yarn from spaced courses to that its area is a fraction of what it would be if it were knit with yarn from all courses, thereby reducing the amount of yarn that is wasted. At the same time, however, the second sections prevent the first section from curling and thereby interfering with cutting along specially provided nearby guidelines and sewing trimming to the edge thus formed.